DNA, cell records led police to Idaho murder suspect Bryan Kohberger, documents show - National

Newly released court documents filed by police in Moscow, Idaho, reveal how investigators have located Bryan Kohberger, who was arrested and charged with brutally stabbing four University of Idaho college students in a case that drew international attention excited and sent shockwaves through the US small university town.

The affidavit of Brett Payne, a police corporal in Moscow, Idaho, was released minutes before Kohberger, a 28-year-old criminal justice graduate student at nearby Washington State University, was due to appear in court after he was extradited from Pennsylvania on Wednesday was where his parents live and where he was arrested.

He is charged with quadruple murder and first-degree burglary in the November 13 attack that killed three housemates, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen, as well as Kernodle’s friend Ethan Chapin, who was staying for the night.

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Screenshot of an Instagram photo showing the four victims of a recent murder investigation in Moscow, Idaho posing together on the same day they were killed. Instagram

The affidavit reveals that one of the unharmed roommates who was at the scene at the time of the stabbing actually confronted the alleged killer, whom she described as wearing a mask and wearing black clothing.

The affidavit also describes how investigators used DNA evidence from a knife sheath left at the scene and video surveillance of a white Hyundai Elantra to connect Kohberger to the murders. Cellphone data also showed that he was in the area of the victims’ home the night and afternoon after the attack — and several times in the months leading up to the killings.

READ ALSO: Idaho suspect Bryan Kohberger pulled over twice by police after brutal stabbing

Idaho suspect Bryan Kohberger was pulled over twice by police after being brutally stabbed

witness from the house

A woman who lived in the off-campus tenement where the four University of Idaho students were killed described to investigators her horrific encounter with an intruder the night her colleagues were brutally stabbed to death in their beds.

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The roommate, who was not injured in the attack, told investigators that she opened the door to her second-floor bedroom around 4 a.m. after hearing crying and was “frozen” in shock when a man hit the she didn’t know, walked past her to her sliding glass door. She went back to her bedroom and locked the door.

She described the man as about five feet, 10 inches tall and “not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” according to ABC News court documents.

READ ALSO: 2 Surviving Roommates Of Murdered Idaho College Students Speak For The First Time

Police have detailed their most comprehensive series of events yet about what happened at the home during the murders, which they believe occurred between 4am and 4:25am

According to the affidavit, one of the surviving housemates woke up around 4am to find Goncalves playing with her dog on the third floor. A little later, the roommate said, “She heard who thought she was Goncalves saying something like ‘there’s someone here,'” the documents read.

A private security officer sits in a vehicle Tuesday, January 3, 2023 in front of the home in Moscow, Idaho where four University of Idaho students were killed in November 2022. Ted S Warren / The Associated Press

The roommate opened her door upon hearing the comments, but saw nothing and returned to her room.

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“She opened her door a second time when she heard what she thought she was crying coming from Kernodle’s room,” the affidavit reads. She also heard a male voice say “something like ‘It’s okay, I’ll help you'”.

At that moment, the roommate said she saw the masked figure walking past her.

At around 4:17 a.m., a surveillance camera near Kernodle’s room picked up the sounds of a dog barking and “distorted audio of what sounded like voices or a whimper followed by a loud thump,” the affidavit said.

A shoeprint believed to be from the intruder was found outside the room of one of the surviving housemates, documents showed.

READ ALSO: Idaho Student Murders: Police Dispel Rumors Of Stalker, Skinned Dog

DNA evidence and cell records

Authorities say they found DNA from a tan leather knife sheath left on the bed of one of the victims and were able to match it to Kohberger after extracting DNA from his family’s home.

The affidavit prepared by Officer Payne describes how he arrived at the scene on November 13 and noticed the knife sheath lying on the bed next to Mogen. Police were able to recover male DNA left on the button closure of the scabbard, which featured a US Marine Corps insignia.

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“The scabbard was later finished and the exterior was embossed with ‘Ka-Bar’, ‘USMC’ and the United States Marine Corps eagle globe and anchor insignia,” Payne wrote.

The murder weapon, which police believe was a large fixed-blade knife, has still not been found.

READ ALSO: Family Of Suspect In Idaho Student Murders Vows To “Seek The Truth”

On December 27, four days before Kohberger’s arrest, police recovered trash from his parents’ home in Pennsylvania, and a lab was able to determine that DNA from the trash was the father of the person who left DNA on the knife sheath to the documents .

Surveillance footage captured near the home showed a white sedan — later identified as a Hyundai Elantra — passing the home three times in the early hours of November 13, returning a fourth time around 4:04 a.m. The car was next spotted on surveillance cameras exiting King Road 16 minutes later “at high speed,” Payne wrote.

The same car was later spotted on another camera heading towards Pullman, where the suspect lived while he attended Washington State University.

According to documents viewed by The Rolling Stone, Kohberger’s phone records placed him near the crime scene the night of the attack. His cell phone was pinged near the home at least three times in the afternoon after the killings, suggesting he had returned to the scene.

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Candles and flowers are left at a makeshift memorial honoring four murdered University of Idaho students outside the Mad Greek restaurant in downtown Moscow, Idaho on Tuesday, November 15, 2022. The family of Bryan Kohberger, 28, have been arrested in the killings and say they will continue to support him and seek “the truth”. AP Photo/Nicholas K Geranios

Digging deeper into his phone records, police revealed that Kohberger had traveled to the victims’ residential area at least a dozen times between late June and the night of the killings.

Investigators have not revealed a possible motive or said if they think Kohberger knew any of the victims.

Kohberger was arrested December 31 at his parents’ home in eastern Pennsylvania and agreed to extradition to Idaho. His Pennsylvania attorney, Jason LaBar, chief defense attorney for Monroe County, said Kohberger was desperate to be exonerated, describing him as “an ordinary guy.” He said Kohberger will be represented by the chief public defender in Kootenai County, Idaho, upon his arrival in the state.

Bryan Kohberger is escorted by law enforcement after arriving at Pullman-Moscow Regional Airport in Pullman, Washington on Thursday, January 4, 2023. Kohberger was extradited from Pennsylvania for the alleged murder of four University of Idaho students earlier Thursday, March 13, 2022. Austin Johnson/ Lewiston Tribune via AP

Latah County prosecutors have said they believe Kohberger broke into the victims’ home to commit murder.

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– with files from The Associated Press

1:31 University of Idaho student killing: Suspect agrees to extradition and faces murder charges

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